Neighborhood Plan

In 2016, the Central Bench Neighborhood Association was awarded a Neighborhood Reinvestment Grant to create a neighborhood plan for the Central Bench Neighborhood. Volunteers worked to create a vision of, “Inspire and connect our neighbors through collaboration and activism to ensure the Central Bench Neighborhood is the most livable neighborhood in Boise.” We received feedback from neighbors as we stood outside of Fred Meyer, Albertson’s, at our National Night Out, an online survey and even at a block party hosted by Gluten Free Galaxy.

Based on our research and surveys, we consolidated the Plan’s priorities to four categories:

Land Use and Development “Maintain and support diversity of businesses, expand mix of housing options, and create walkable neighborhood activity centers.”

Neighborhood Character “Improve safety and strengthen sense of neighborhood identity and heritage.”

Connectivity “Improve bike and pedestrian circulation within the neighborhood, and connections to neighborhood activity centers and others area of Boise.”

Site and Building Design “Support infill, new development and redevelopment with building and site design elements that integrate into and complement the existing neighborhood structure and character.”

The demographic fact sheet of our neighborhood, located on page 15 gives an overview of who resides in the neighborhood. Of the 2,615 households we see we are a younger neighborhood wanting a positive environment for our young families, though, the median household income that is nearly half of the City of Boise average. 53% of our households have one vehicle and 11% of our neighbors have no access to a vehicle, this helped us frame the feedback from neighbors were on issues like bike/pedestrian lanes and access to public transportation. Throughout this process the CBNA Board has become more confident and empowered to who we represent and how we approach our path forward.

This neighborhood plan is more than ink and paper. To us, this neighborhood plan represents a living embodiment of who we are as a neighborhood. Through this plan, we have built a diverse community who can agree and disagree with certain aspects of our growth, but in the end we all have our compass pointed in the same direction as we strive to make the CBNA unique and the most livable neighborhood in Boise.

The Boise City Council adopted this plan by unanimous vote on March 5, 2019